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The House’s select committee to probe the January 6 insurrection is already taking shape. With the first eight members having already been announced last week, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy is set to make his nominations in the remaining spots of the 13-member lineup.
People familiar with the matter told NBC News that McCarthy has already spoken to several members of the House Republican caucus on possibly serving on the select committee that will investigate the January 6 insurrection. This seems to signal that McCarthy does not plan to boycott the committee, contrary to other reports that have surfaced. McCarthy is expected to make nominations to the five remaining spots.
To note, only two House Republicans voted in favor of forming a select committee to make the probe. One of them, Liz Cheney, was among the eight appointees by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This follows efforts by the majority of Republican lawmakers to block the bipartisan proposal for a commission, which 35 House Republicans voted in favor of.
It should also be noted that even as McCarthy names five more Republicans to be on the committee, Pelosi still has the final say on who he could appoint. Some GOP Reps. have already publicly expressed interest in serving on the committee, such as Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis, while others have expressed their concerns to McCarthy that the work of the select committee may drag into 2022. There is no set deadline for the committee to submit their findings from the events.
It remains to be seen who McCarthy decides to nominate among his caucus, as only two members of the House GOP maintained in favor of the means necessary to investigate the Capitol insurrection.
Previously, last June, McCarthy finally met and sat down with injured police officer Michael Fanone, who is still out on medical leave since the insurrection. The meeting comes after several attempts to reach out to McCarthy in order to speak with him and share his experience after being attacked by the pro-Donald Trump rioters.
“I asked him specifically for a commitment to denounce that publicly. And he said that he would address it at a personal level, with some of those members. But again, I think that as a leader of the House Republican, or I’m sorry, as the leader of the House Republican Party, it’s important to hear those denouncements publicly,” said Fanone.
McCarthy criticized Trump shortly after the riots occurred but later walked back on his criticisms of the former president.
